Myths of the competitiveness of Hong Kong university students: A mainstream media perspective

This article aims to critically examine the media discourse of university students' competiveness. Drawing on commentaries, editorials, and reports from the mainstream local printed media, this study addresses the following questions: (1) Which of these introduces and promotes the support of university students' competitiveness? (2) What is the importance of university students' competitiveness in relation to local economy and society? (3) Who will be the potential contesters in the eyes of local students? (4) How can competitive strength be enhanced? An analytical framework is articulated based on the above questions aiming to deconstruct the notion of increasing competitiveness of university students in three ways: (1) the persistence of a sociopoliticoeconomic context, (2) values and perceptions created and advocated by mainstream media and capitalists, and (3) the production of myths, legacies, authoritarian views, and selective statistical figures in relation to such proposed values and perceptions. However, such a notion represents the persistence of power relationships between the powerful capitalists and the powerless university students, the alienation of university education, and the covert manipulation of the government and business in the social and educational system.